The lockable Circassian walnut case dressed with studded brass strapwork, opening to reveal a reversible chess and backgammon board in ebony, with ivory and rosewood inlays set inside the lid; the lower compartment containing a set of stained ivory Staunton chessmen, draughts, cribbage and bezique markers, dice and counters; aa drawer in the case contains shell counters, and guide books to the card games of Bridge and Whist. Signed by the maker on the lock.
Circa 1870

Literature

George Betjeman & Sons, Pentonville Road London

George Betjeman (1798-1886), the great grandfather of Sir John Betjeman, the Poet Laureate and broadcaster, was apprenticed to Gilbert Slater, a dressing case maker in 1810, and established himself as a dressing case manufacturer, initially in Clerkenwell, and later in 1859, in the Pentonville Road, where his substantial business employed 119 people. He had expanded into making and selling writing cases, tantulus sets, and tobacco cabinets, inter alia.